cnn washington correspondent sunlen serfaty at a polling site in arlington, virginia. sunlen, we know there is a major focus on this. a lot of talk about whether this race has actually is a bellwether for 2022. what were these two candidates saying in their final pitches to voters? >> reporter: well, erica, as you know, this is a very, very close race. and the candidates know that they need people to get out here and vote today. and what we saw from each of the candidates in making their closing arguments was largely them staying true to the core part of their strategy. for democrat terry mcauliffe that was about defining this race, casting youngkin, the republican candidate, as a proxy for donald trump, tieing him to donald trump, even falsely claiming last night on the campaign trail that youngkin was doing an event with trump. that was a reference to a tele town hall that trump dialed into that youngkins wi was not . and for glenn youngkin, his strategy has been to keep trump at arm's length, keep some distance from the former president's endorsement, focusing on lo

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first let's go to sunlen serfaty in arlington. sunlen? >> reporter: polls are open here in virginia, voting got started about two hours ago. and here at this polling location in arlington, virginia, which is a suburb just outside of d.c., we are seeing a steady stream of people coming in and out, not super long lines, but the director here tells me they have already had 150 people in just two hours vote already. and a lot of people are also coming in and dropping their mail-in vote at this official ballot drop box over here among the 1.1 million virginians who have already cast votes in the early voting. today, talking to voters as they come out, it is very clear there is a lot of passion in this race and that likely will compel people to come out and vote today, talked with one man a short time ago, he is an independent, but he leans republican. he sat out in the race in 2020, he did not want to vote for trump, he tells me he also didn't want to vote for biden, but he tells me he felt compelled to vote today. he said because he's talking

arlington at 95%. so you are looking at the places that you know are the deepest blue where the democrats are going to get 60%, 70% or more they're in. we come down here. another example about margin. youngkin winning chester county. margins matter. so winning in the suburbs in the central part of the state more conservative. traditionally the parties that ran under trump, youngkin is losing. you say, oh, that's terrible. you see that margin right there. but then you go back in time and a little bit more. >> and one of the things that's interesting while we talk about all of this, the exit polls indicated the economy was one of the most important issues. and terry mcauliffe thought he was a pro jobs governor when he was governor before, but he ran in a way, a democrat was saying to me earlier, terry mcauliffe ran as an incumbent, right? and glenn youngkin ran as an agent of change. >> this is a change year. >> right? in terms of economics being the most important issue, inflation, gas prices, home heat

we start in arlington, virginia. a huge change in the commonwealth. >> reporter: a huge change, john, a huge swing for republicans here in virginia and a significant blow for democrats. terry mcauliffe making it official a short time ago, officially conceding this race, calling glenn youngkin. we are told the two have not officially connected by the phone yet. mcauliffe lost certainly in part due to his laser-focused strategy on attempting to tie youngkin to former president donald trump. in the end that simply did not work. youngkin was successful on being able to cultivate his own brand outside of president trump at the same time while not alienating trump voters, attracting moderate voters and appealing to the base. in part that was due to him being able to tap into virginia-focused issues, education and parental rights. john, that was a big win and resonated with virginia voters here. >> a fascinating race. we'll be studying it for months and months heading into the next one. let's go to new jersey now and jason

. >> i've come to arlington, virginia to talk to the guard's second in command, lieutenant general mark sassville. what are the different kinds of militias? >> the first category which is what we are is federally recognized and their primary job is to fight the nation's wars. the second category is the state militias and they support the states, fighting fires, floods, and clearly covid now. if you talk about militias there is this other category of private militias that are private organizations that have nothing to do with the first two categories. >> it's those private organizations that have been keeping lawmakers up at night. paramilitary groups that often refer to themselves as militia but exist in a legal gray zone. where individuals have the right to bear arms but as groups they don't have the legal standing to drill or conduct law enforcement. on january 6, 2021, members of some of those groups crossed a red line. >> all of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left democrats. >> in an attempt to overthrow the presidential election h

move over here, arlington county, 95%. >> yeah, it's important to point out you run out of buckets at a certain point. >> and 86% in alexandria, where you are winning by 24,000 votes. shy of that right there. as the other 14% come n you can anticipate terry mcauliffe will cut in to it, cut in to it more. the question is, is there enough to cut in to, you know, 84,000? an hour ago. it was 111,000. so it's has been shrinking. that's a fact f you say, you are a democrat and you want to wait to the end of the finish line. it's mathematically impossible. >> the 84,000. it's a shock to the system. >> we are talking about improbable, going up to 95 for jersey. with 62% of the vote in. and that's where that number now gets significant. you have a healthy margin in percentage wise and totals. now you are closing in on a third of the vote. it's the same experiment. the countys s are bringing them in. it's the number one county in the state. 10% of the population and this at the moment is flipped and we are up to close to 68%. 67% of the vote four years ago. that tells you that the murphy map is

. >> that they are, cnn washington correspondent, all of these developments for us, from arlington, virginia, so the concessions statement went out. do we know he has spoken this morning? >> well, we are told that the two men have not spoken directly on the phone, yet they say that mcauliffe reached out before this concession went out. they were not able to detect. certainly notable as you say that this concession formally came out just a few minutes ago, acknowledging they came up short, congratulates glenn youngkin saying i hope virginians will wish the best for him and his family. certainly this is a big gut punch for them. we had mcauliffe yesterday acknowledging overnight, really, they overestimated youngkin, in the end if race for them shifted in the final weeks, in the final months of the campaign. glenn youngkin was able to rally supporters to get out to the polls over state and local issues, most notably resignations, that's something the governor elect last night acknowledged in his victory speech. >> on day one, we're going to work. we're going to restore excellence in our schools

he kept trump at sufficient arms length to appeal to the northern virginia voters, places like arlington and lehman besburg. he didn't alienate maga voters in the southwest. youngkin doubled down on making this race about concrete issues he argued were progressive overreach in public schools, crime, tax breaks, et cetera. by contrast what we saw from mcauliffe was a flat campaign that kind of lacked direction. when you add it all up in an off-year election where democrats have been struggling to articulate a coherent message beyond the fact they're not trump, i think the outcome maybe wasn't too surprising. >> yeah, we were looking on the screen at top issues on both sides. how much do you think the thinking or popularity of the president, president biden as well as the democrats struggled to move the legislative agenda, perhaps has dragged or dragged mcauliffe down here? >> i think it's certainly a challenge for democrats going forward. it's pretty clear that democrats need to look at yesterday's results as a wake up call. virginia in particular is stlukt i have precisely because of its

we are live in arlington, virginia. sunday lynn, what happened in virginia? >> reporter: okay. that's exactly the question mr. democrats here in virginia and nationwide, frankly, are asking this morning in the aftermath of the election results here. and certainly notable that in the last hour, democrat terry mcauliffe officially conceding the race, saying in a statement he hopes virginians will join me congratulating glenn youngkin for his win and wishing him the best. this is a significant gut punch for democrats and mcauliffe officials acknowledging that they certainly understatemented youngkin and they said that the race for them just shifted in the end. now for youngkin, he was squarely focused throughout his campaign on the bread and butter state and local issues, issues like education and exit polls really found that that resonated with virginia voters. here's the governor-elect celebrating his victory last night. >> together, together, we will change the trajectory of this commonwealth. and, friends, we are going to start that transformation on day o one. >> now, it's no

. >> let's go now to cnn's sunlen serfaty in arlington virginia, northern virginia, just outside washington, d.c. this is a nail biter here, sunlen. >> reporter: it certainly is, brianna. and the donald trump factor has frankly loomed large in this race. especially today, on election eve with this townhall for glenn youngkin. over the weekend, as you heard there, you saw glenn youngkin try to keep trump again at arm's length, insisting he's not participating in this townhall with trump, insisting he had no part in the planning. all of this plays into the hand and the strategy of democrat terry mcauliffe who tried to cast youngkin as a proxy for donald trump. here he is over the weekend. >> tomorrow we will have a little teleconference. donald trump is finally going to visit here. trump wants to win here so he can announce for president 2024. that's the stakes of this election. he's trying to get himself off the mat. he wants to win here tuesday. and wednesday donald trump announces he's running in 2024. are we going to allow that to go on here? >> no! >> reporter: early voting here in virgi

we have all angles covered this morning starting with the polling location in arlington, virginia. good morning. big day there. >> reporter: it certainly is a big day, christine. this race is incredibly tight that has national significance, and national implications going forward. not only for midterms for the next presidential cycle, but certainly how many candidates across the country are approaching their races going forward. and this is something that we saw both candidates in this governor's race, terry mcauliffe, the democratic candidate and glenn youngkin arguing, the national significance for both of their respective parties going forward. now, in the final day of campaigning, last night we saw glenn youngkin crisscrossing the commonwealth of virginia, again receiving the endorsement of former president trump and former president trump also appeared at a telerally for him last night. something that the youngkin campaign certainly kept at arms length someone they have constantly kept at arms length during the duration of this campaign. and youngkin really appearing last nigh

let's go to sunlen serfaty, following the results of the election from arlington, virginia. terry mcauliffe has not conceded yet, but the numbers seem to be clear here. do we know when he'll make that call? >> reporter: well, jim, mcauliffe officials tell cnn overnight there is no urgency to do so, but certainly the expectation is that is going to have to be the next step here. and democrats this morning are definitely waking up to this gut punch blow in the governor's race. mcauliffe officials admitting that they just underestimated glenn youngkin in the end and the race for them just shifted in the end. glenn youngkin was able to tap into a series of state and local issues, most notably education. that did resonate among voters last night in exit polls. that's something that the governor-elect gave a nod to in his victory rally last night. >> on day one, we're going to work! we're going to restore excellence in our schools! we're going to start with charter schools and make a down payment and close the gap on giving parents an opportunity to select where their kids go to s

but as we watch that, i want to go to arlington, virginia, to talk about the other major race. cnn's sunland serfaty is there. sunland. >> reporter: john, certainly a big night for republicans here in virginia and a devastating gut punch for democrats. republican glenn youngkin defeating democrat terry mcauliffe to become this commonwealth's next governor and first time notably that a republican has won a state race here in virginia in over a decade. and youngkin did so by building his own brand, a brand that was separate from trump, appealing to moderate republican voters. but doing so without alienating the trump voters and appealing to the base, focusing on state and local issues like education to get him elected. here's the governor elect at his victory rally in virginia. >> on day one, we're going to work. we're going to restore excellence in our schools. we're going to start with 20 charter schools and we are going to make a down payment and close the gap on giving parents an opportunity to select where their kids go to school. friends, we're going to embrace our parents,